Japan: Students at a Terakoya temple school. Ukiyo-e woodblock print by Issunshi Hanasato, c. 1844

Terakoya (寺子屋, which literally means 'temple schools') were private educational institutions that taught writing and reading to the children of Japanese commoners during the Edo period.

The first Terakoya made their appearance at the beginning of the 17th century, as a development from educational facilities founded in Buddhist temples. Prior to the Edo period, public educational institutions were dedicated to the children of samurai and ruling families, thus the rise of the merchant class in the middle of the Edo period boosted the popularity of terakoya, as they were widely common in large cities as Edo and Osaka, as well as in rural and coastal regions. The terakoya attendance rate reached 70% in the capital Edo at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century.

The Terakoya were abolished in the Meiji era, when the government instituted the Education System Order (gakusei 学制) in 1872, when attending public schools was made compulsory as a measure to give basic education to the whole population.

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